There's a new Symbian client for TalkPlus that's making the rounds in beta with some bloggers. I first looked at the new beta here with an early peek. Thanks to a pretty close working relationship with the TalkPlus team, I convinced them to let me look just a half-step further ahead.

TalkPlus begins with the idea of virtual numbers directed to your cell phone, but for me the real power comes with the ability to alias existing phone numbers. To be able to create new numbers in, say New York and Chicago for business, plus incorporate your home, office and other phone numbers all on a single device is incredibly powerful.

Let me show you what I mean. In this screenshot, I've fired up the TalkPlus client andhere's the main screen when it's up and running. Important to note that simply clicking a button will hide the client while it runs in background.

On this screen, my Nokia N95 is set up with four phone numbers. I can do more. Quite a few more, but this shows the potential on one screen. I've built one TalkPlus virtual number in Seattle, aliased my Treo on a different mobile carrier, and aliased my home phone. I've simply sprayed a line through the actual numbers for privacy purposes.

Ths first option is checked. That's the native device phone number. In other words, my N95 is working as normal on the carrier assigned number. if I click on this entry, I can see its profile.


It's not terribly exciting. It simply says we're using the native phone. On that main screen, changing the active profile is as simple as scrolling up and down. Leave the check mark on the one we want active and we're done. Moving between numbers is simple and easy.

The second entry on the list is my Seattle TalkPlus virtual number. If we make that the active profile and click on it, here's what we see.



It's identifed as a TalkPlus number. That means it's virtual and ephemeral. I can create and kill new TalkPlus numbers at will, and alias them to my phone. This is where, as a consultant, I might create local numbers in New York and Chicago if I did significant business in those cities and wanted a local number.

For personal use, it also means I can easily create a TalkPlus number in southern California so that my famliy can reach me by making a local call.

Here's where it starts to get interesting for me - aliasing exsting numbers you already have. This TalkPlus beta is running on my Nokia N95 on the AT&T Cingular network. I've only had that phone and number for a few months. I started it as a test mechanism for the Nokia Blogger Relations program. My longterm mobile carrier has been Verizon, where I use a Treo 700W.

Why not alias my Treo to TalkPlus? So I did.



As you can see, I simply scroll down to check the Treo as my active profile and now my N95 looks, to the network, like my Treo. Calls placed can appear to be coming from that profile. Here's the profile screen itself.



Note that the Treo is shown as a mirror number.

TalkPlus has some interesting business uses, but this aliasing or mirroring feature is by far the most powerful business tool.

For me, I actually carry three mobile phones on a daily basis. And i've got office and home office phone lines. To be able to alias all my phones to a single handset is a pretty powerful tool.

I'm a big fan of GrandCentral, and I'm still working to alias my GrandCentral number to TalkPlus. It works, but there's a minor dialed digit interception issue with Grand Central I don't quite have worked out yet.

The power lies in profiles and the address book. With TalkPlus, I can link entries to profiles:

• When I call mom, always show the call from my home number.
• When I call clients, always show the call from my office number
• When I call my best friend, show my native cell number

TalkPlus is about user control of what information we send and receive. It's about options. It puts the user in the driver's seat.

I'll be exploring and using TalkPlus more and will keep you posted on what I find.


Technorati Tags: TalkPlus, Nokia, Symbian, N95, unified communicaitions